Five former US officials, including a former top military lawyer, have criticised the Pentagon for not acknowledging potential American involvement in a deadly strike on an Iranian school in Minab that killed at least 168, mostly children, BBC reports.

Some of those officials said it was highly unusual not to release even basic details of the strike after such a length of time. In the two months since then, the Pentagon has said only that the incident is under investigation.

The current US position “strikingly departs from the standard response”, said Lt Col Rachel E VanLandingham, a retired judge advocate general in the US Air Force and former senior legal adviser at US Central Command during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“To not even be able to have any comment on it whatsoever is just unacceptable,” said Wes Bryant, a former senior adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation who left the Pentagon last year when staffing at the civilian harm unit was significantly reduced under Hegseth.

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